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Religion and Life Satisfaction Down Under

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  • Michael Kortt
  • Brian Dollery
  • Bligh Grant

Abstract

We investigated the association between religious involvement and life satisfaction using panel data from the 2004, 2007, and 2010 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Our study provides strong evidence of an association between attendance at religious services and life satisfaction in the Australian social context. While social resources mediate this association, there appears to be a remaining direct influence of attendance at religious services on life satisfaction. To unravel this association, there is a need to disentangle and separately assess the influence that ‘religious social resources’ and ‘secular social resources’ may have on life satisfaction. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Kortt & Brian Dollery & Bligh Grant, 2015. "Religion and Life Satisfaction Down Under," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 277-293, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:16:y:2015:i:2:p:277-293
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-014-9509-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bryukhanov, Maksym & Fedotenkov, Igor, 2017. "Religiosity and life satisfaction in Russia: Evidence from the Russian data," MPRA Paper 82750, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Shuai Zhang & Binbin Liu & Dajian Zhu & Mingwang Cheng, 2018. "Explaining Individual Subjective Well-Being of Urban China Based on the Four-Capital Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Mariano Rojas & Karen Watkins-Fassler, 2022. "Religious Practice and Life Satisfaction: A Domains-of-Life Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2349-2369, June.
    4. Zoua M. Vang & Feng Hou & Katharine Elder, 2019. "Perceived Religious Discrimination, Religiosity, and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1913-1932, August.
    5. Jan-Philip Steinmann & Hannes Kröger & Jörg Hartmann & Theresa M. Entringer, 2024. "Did Religious Well-Being Benefits Converge or Diverge During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 1-35, October.
    6. Veysel BOZKURT & Aşkın KESER & Haluk ZÜLFİKAR, 2020. "Factors Predicting Life Satisfaction Among Social Media Users," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(78), pages 47-62, June.
    7. Kosher, Hanita & Ben-Arieh, Asher, 2017. "Religion and subjective well-being among children: A comparison of six religion groups," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 63-77.
    8. David W. Johnston & Olena Stavrunova, 2021. "Subjective Wellbeing Dynamics," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 518-529, December.
    9. Blázquez, Maite & Sánchez-Mangas, Rocío, 2023. "General and COVID19-specific emotional stress: Religious practice as a potential coping strategy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    10. Allon Vishkin & Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom & Maya Tamir, 2019. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: Religiosity, Emotion Regulation and Well-Being in a Jewish and Christian Sample," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 427-447, February.

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